Palol de Revardit to La Mota

Situated on the way to Banyoles, Palol de Revardit is a small, pretty village/hamlet with a newly restored castle set among the hills behind Girona. Access to the village is from the C66 dual carriageway between Girona and Banyoles.

This walk takes us from the village into the hills and up to the hilltop ridge at La Mota which looks over the countryside to the Pyrenees and out to the sea on one side, and across to Girona on the other. The walk up to La Mota is clearly marked from Palol de Revardit, the walk down is a little less clearly marked.

W e park by the castle at Palol de Revardit. The village is quite small with probably less than a hundred houses and a small ajuntament, but the castle has recently been renovated and the village is very well kept. After a little explore and getting our bearings, we find the signpost marked for the route to La Mota (4.2km). The first part of the walk is along a small village lane that crosses a small stream before a gentle climb to the hills. Though we're on the road it's quiet as the roads only lead to the hills and local farms.

Being spring, the morning was dotted with rain but as we arrived at Palol, the afternoon broke out into a warm bluesky dotted with clouds and it feels like everything is growing. The trees have that fresh verdent green of new leaves and the flowers are filling the meadows.

After a short climb past one of the old farms used for tourisme rural, the sign posts take us of the road and up a broad track into the hills. We have the first sound of a cuckoo to accompany us as we follow the track up through the woods. The ground is drying under our feet as we walk and it's a steady slightly humid climb in among a mix of pines and deciduous trees.

The track is broad and pleasant without having too many highlights and after around 2km emerges at a set of meadows just below Sant Marti de la Mota church, perched on the hill ahead of us. The path splits at this point and we could head directly to Els Refugis de la Mota, but instead take the road to the church we can see, part a newly renovated masia with commanding views over plains below. The road does a down and up, and we emerge close to the chapel/church of Sant Marti. The church, like many more isolated ones, is connected to a farmhouse and we meet the owners who point out the views out towards the sea in the distance.

We now follow another road along the ridge at the top of the hill. To begin with all the views are to the north, but as we come close to a small urbanisation the views open up across to Girona, with the cathedral clearly visible from where we are. The views extend all around, to the ancient former volcano above Canet d'Adri and up to the Rocacorba mountains behind us.

As is common with many of these highpoints, there is a dolmen close to the top. The sign says the grave is 5,000 years old, but these ancient burial sites are never quite as impressive a you might expect.

The route down follows a track just behind a small playground for the urbanisation that runs under the urbanisation hill on the right, with a stream or gully turning into a valley to the left. It wasn't entirely clear if the track was the route to start with but it was fine - more surprising was that someone had just driven it from the look of the tracks, despite the mud and heavy pot-marks.

The rain had left the track muddy in contrast to the dry track we came up, and from time to time we have to negotiate slippy puddles on the way down, but again it's more pleasant wood-walking without stand-out things to see.

Towards the bottom we cross a stream on stepping stones and pass a couple of old farms being rennovated before walking past tree plantations in the bottom of a shallow valley. We emerge from the path at the Veinet de Can Padres. We were trying to get back to Palol directly, but didn't see a path. Unfortunately the connection from Can Padres to Palol is road all the way - and a newly refurbished road, but there are only three or four cars.

The road takes us above Palol with views of the village and its surrounding, before turning off and then down back towards the castle.